(Somewhat related to the "Engineering Food Chain"; see the guide to pursuing a fellow engineer)

Like AD&D, engineering can be divided into three spheres, each of which subdivides into three alignments. Every engineering field of study can be categorized into one of these nine concentrations.

The "Hard" Tier

"Hard" engineering includes the three engineering types which directly extend the basic study of physics in order to solve problems. Because of this, they are frequently referred to as "pure" engineering. These include Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering (including its more recent offspring, Computer Engineering which many lay-people incorrectly confuse with Computer Science), and Chemical Engineering.

The "Soft" Tier

While not necessarily any less difficult than the "Hard" triumvirate, the Soft Tier has less defined specializations. This causes the category to be looked on by members of the Hard Tier as "less pure" forms of engineering, which sometimes leads to ridicule. The specializations typically categorized here include Materials Science Engineering (which is sometimes under the guise of "Textile Engineering" or some other names), Civil Engineering (which has sub-categories Environmental and Geographic), and Industrial Engineering. These each combine multiple disciplines to solve real-world problem.

A typical quip regarding the difference between the two super-categories of engineering is that those who practice the Hard Tier build weapons while those who practice the Soft Tier build targets. This joke is found among various circles in every combination of forms for each of the "pure" and "less pure" engineering concentrations.

The Hybrid Tier

This category only contains one specialization, Biomedical Engineering. However, there are three distinct followers of BME. The people who are in the industry (or training to be in the industry) simply for the money are the contemporary form of "executives" from prior generations. Then there are the people who practice BME in order to help people; this noble goal is similar to the calling of (some) medical doctors from days gone by. The third category are the true engineers who are filled with a desire to solve problems in a way that bridge classical biology, physiology and engineering. These people can typically be sub-categorized into one of the Hard Tier of engineering, even though their primary practice is Biomedical Engineering. They approach biomedical problems with electrical, chemical, or mechanical solutions.